Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 222 Changes (1)

In this turbulent era, every piece of important news was like a stone thrown into the middle of a lake, stirring up ripples and affecting the entire world situation and the direction of people's hearts. The death of Manchu Prince Lekedehun in battle, the fall of Jinling City, and Hong Chengchou's self-immolation, these news spread like birds in all directions.

In Xuzhou City, Baiyintu, under the order of Dorgon, led the main forces of the Eight Banners, like a rolling torrent, southward along the canal and arrived in Yangzhou. A solid camp was built outside Yangzhou City, forming a confrontation across the river with the troops of Bai Yongfu in Zhenjiang City on the opposite bank.

However, Yangzhou City is no longer the prosperous scene of the past. The once bustling market has been replaced by the silence after the massacre. The city is sparsely populated, with only ruins left. The Baiyintu tribe stationed here, but found that there was no food and grass to collect, no civilians to use, and all supplies had to be transferred from far away.

The news of Baiyintu's arrival soon reached Meng Jun, who strictly ordered Shen Tingyang's navy to patrol along the river and block the river.

In Guangxi, the battle between Li Dingguo and Kong Youde had already begun. With Sun Kewang in charge of the rear and fully supporting Li Dingguo, Li Dingguo led his troops to Hechi in early April and captured Yizhou and Liucheng. After that, his troops went straight to Liuzhou. On April 20th, they captured Liuzhou, and the Qing defender Zhao Quanxing was beheaded. The entire Qing army in Liuzhou was wiped out.

Kong Youde was shocked, so he ordered Sun Qi, a surrendered general from Shaowu, to lead his troops to defend Yongfu County. As a result, Sun Qi, who thought he was a rare general, was defeated by Li Dingguo's troops in less than a day. Countless bodies of Qing soldiers were killed from Yongfu to Guilin. Sun Qi himself was shot by stray arrows in the chaos and died on the way of retreat. Li Dingguo incorporated the surrendered troops and wanted to use them as the first step to attack Guilin.

Kong Youde was panicked. Except for Kong Youde's own 3,000 troops in Guilin, most of the rest were Green Camps reorganized from surrendered troops from Hunan and other places. The elite ones had already been transferred away by Lekedehun. The rest were just for bluffing, but they would be vulnerable if a real battle broke out.

The news of Lekedehun's defeat and the fall of Nanjing had also reached Kong Youde. On the one hand, Kong Youde was horrified by Li Dingguo's aggressive attack on Guilin. On the other hand, he was worried that after Meng Jun annihilated Lekedehun, he would lead his troops up the river and threaten his retreat.

After a sleepless night, Kong Youde decided to withdraw from Guilin to avoid Li Dingguo's attack, and his entire army retreated to Yongzhou. After reorganizing the surrendered troops, Li Dingguo did not go south to Guangdong, but chased Kong Youde. After Li Dingguo's troops captured Guilin, the army drove straight to Quanzhou.

On the sixth day of May, in Quanzhou, Li Dingguo forced the surrendered troops to climb the city wall. They fought day and night and captured Quanzhou the next day. Sun Long, a general under Kong Youde, was killed and the Qing army in Quanzhou was completely wiped out. Kong Youde was shocked and did not dare to stay in Yongzhou any longer. He left a part of the Qing army to delay Li Dingguo and retreated to Hengyang. He stayed in Hengyang for only three days before retreating to Changsha.

In Guangdong, Li Chengdong was originally very proud of himself, and he was full of confidence that the position of Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi belonged to him. After all, he was the one who destroyed the two emperors of the Southern Ming Dynasty and swept across Guangdong, with outstanding achievements. Not to mention the position of Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, according to Li Chengdong's thinking, his achievements were no less than Wu Sangui, and it would not be an exaggeration for the Qing court to confer the title of King of Pingnan on him.

Unexpectedly, Li Chengdong was only appointed as the Governor of Guangdong and Guangxi on the grounds that Dorgon failed to conquer Suzhou and allowed the Meng thief to grow stronger. However, Tong Yangjia, whose contribution was not as great as his, was appointed as the Governor of Guangdong and Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi.

Not only did Li Chengdong have no right to interfere in local affairs, he was also subject to military constraints from Tong Yangjia. This was far from Li Chengdong's idea of holding military and political power and being the only one in power.

After Li Chengdong defeated Emperor Shaowu, he captured his former adopted son Li Yuanyin. Li Chengdong often mocked Li Yuanyin, saying that Li Yuanyin had been far away from him in the past, but after many twists and turns, he came back to him again.

Li Yuanyin did not suffer much, after all, he was Li Chengdong's adopted son, and the friendship they had for many years was still there. Li Yuanyin had already been disheartened, but after Tong Yangjia became the governor-general of Guangdong and Guangxi, Li Chengdong's anger was revealed on his face. Li Yuanyin seemed to have found an opportunity again, and he kept persuading Li Chengdong to return to the Ming Dynasty.

Although Li Chengdong was dissatisfied, he had worked hard for the Qing court and even overthrew two emperors of the Southern Ming Dynasty. He didn't know how the Southern Ming Dynasty would treat him. Just when Li Chengdong was hesitant and undecided, Jin Shengheng of Jiangxi took the lead in raising the banner of rebellion.

Jin Shengheng was a native of Wei, Liaodong. After Liaodong was occupied by the Later Jin, Jin Shengheng's entire family was killed. He fled into the interior alone. After entering the interior, Jin Shengheng joined the rebel army and was given a nickname called Yidouli.

Later, when Zuo Liangyu was fighting against the rebel army, Jin Shengheng joined Zuo Liangyu's army again. Zuo Liangyu had fought in Liaodong for a long time and was very famous. Jin Shengheng believed that there would be a bright future if he followed Zuo Liangyu.

Jin Shengheng fought bravely and was promoted to the rank of governor-general and served as commander-in-chief for his meritorious service. After Zuo Menggeng surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, some of the generals of the Zuo Army went to Beijing with Zuo Menggeng, while some were employed by the Qing Dynasty to fight in Jiangxi and Hunan, including Jin Shengheng.

After Jin Shenghuan followed Zuo Menggeng to surrender to the Qing Dynasty, he took the initiative to ask to stay in Jiangxi and serve as the vanguard of the Qing army.

In the campaign to pacify Jiangxi, Jin Shenghuan worked very hard and participated in the capture of Nanchang, Nankang, Jiujiang, Jianchang, Yuanzhou, Fuzhou, Raozhou, Ji'an, Guangxin and many other places, gradually growing into the main force of the Qing army.

As he advanced, Jin Shengheng killed Wang Yu, the prefect of Jianchang, Xia Wanheng, the provincial governor, Wang Yangzheng, the governor of Hudong, Zeng Hengying, the director of the Ministry of Personnel, Yang Tinglin, the minister of war, and other Ming court officials.

After the Qing army finally captured Ganzhou, Jin Shenghuan entered Fujian again to help Zhang Cunren pacify the rebel army in Fujian. Jin Shengheng believed that he had made unprecedented contributions in the battle to pacify Jiangxi and had assisted Fujian, so it might be difficult for him to be awarded the title of king. At the very least, he should be awarded the title of marquis. However, when the reward he had been looking forward to day and night arrived, Jin Shengheng was disappointed.

Jin Shenghuan was awarded the title of deputy general for his merits, which was not even as high a position as his during the Hongguang period. His confidant Wang Deren did not receive any reward at all and was merely a lieutenant general. This made Jin Shenghuan very angry. In addition to being disappointed, he became resentful and ready to rebel again.

Wang Deren, his confidant, persuaded him day and night, and wore Ming Dynasty clothes in his house. He ordered actors to perform Guo Ziyi, Han Shizhong and other plays for Jin Shengheng many times, and often said: "The Tartars are treacherous and unfaithful. If we stay under their rule for a long time, we will be killed by them. Why not turn against them?"

Especially with the news of Lekedehun's murder and the loss of Nanjing, Jin Shenghuan tried to communicate with the Qing court's top leaders. He requested the Qing court to issue another imperial edict to grant him the power to "control civil and military officials and act at his discretion."

In Dorgon's view, Jin Shengheng was just arrogant because of his achievements. However, when Nanjing was lost, Dorgon reluctantly promoted Jin Shengheng to the position of General of Jiangxi, while the title and the right to control civil and military officials that Jin Shengheng expected were not mentioned at all.

Dorgon also appointed Zhang Yutian as the governor of Jiangxi to control Jin Shenghuan. Jin Shenghuan was very dissatisfied with the Qing court's arrangement. In addition, Zhang Yutian wrote a letter to the emperor falsely accusing Jin Shenghuan of intending to rebel, and Jin Shenghuan's rebellious intentions became stronger.

In May, Zhang Yutian suddenly led dozens of cavalrymen to Ruizhou, where Jin Shenghuan was stationed. Jin Shenghuan felt that the time was right, and he shouted "Live as a Ming man, die as a Ming ghost." All his soldiers followed his advice, and quickly captured Zhang Yutian alive, and then controlled Nanchang. Jin Shenghuan ordered people to cut their braids and change their clothes, and posted a notice to pacify the people. Except for Ganzhou, the entire Jiangxi province was under Jin Shenghuan's control.

The situation in Jiangxi has changed drastically.